Posts Tagged ‘ubuntu’

Although I use Mozilla Firefox more than I use Google Chrome, the latter does come in handy when testing how websites display on a different browser or when there is need to diagnose internet connectivity problems. On Windows, Google Chrome is fast; perhaps even faster than Mozilla Firefox. However, on Ubuntu 9.10, I have noticed that it can be a little slow to initiate or even load a simple web page. In an effort to find a solution to this problem I stumbled across quite a few user-submitted posts that described a simple fix. After applying the fix, there was a significant improvement. Read on to find out how you can speed up Google Chrome on Ubuntu.

Apparently, the slow response of Google Chrome on Ubuntu has to do with the slow DNS lookup of this browser. These instructions should not be limited to Chrome on Ubuntu 9.10 alone and should work on any version of Ubuntu where the latest version of Chrome is installed.

Close any instance of Google Chrome that might be running.

Open a terminal window by going to Applications > Accessories > Terminal.

Enter the following command and press ENTER. It will open nsswitch.conf in gedit.

sudo gedit /etc/nsswitch.conf

Locate the following line within the file:

hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4

Replace that line with the following, save the file and exit gedit and the terminal.

If you like playing around with Ubuntu as I do you will, sooner or later, come across the annoying GPG error. In all the excitement of installing new applications, it is quite easy to miss the instruction of adding public keys, especially if you configure Ubuntu to update software from various sources. Usually, the GPG error that appears after you check for updates via the Update Manager or terminal’s sudo apt-get update does not prevent you from retrieving updates. However, wouldn’t it be better if you did not have to encounter the error at all? Well, sure! Who would say no to that? In this HOW-TO, I will share with you the steps you can take to fix the error, especially if the update source is ppa.launchpad.net.

The Linux kernel is not updated very often to require removing old versions regularly. However, when a new version is released, sometimes you may want to remove the old version so as to save on the disk space used. I normally employ the following method when removing old kernels because it is quite thorough and can be mostly accomplished through a terminal window. If you are accustomed to going through the Synaptic Package Manager and manually marking old versions for removal, you may want to try this alternative. However, before you start cleaning, you need to be aware of the all kernel versions that are currently installed on Ubuntu. The last thing you want to do is remove something unintentionally and be faced with an unbootable system.